Award is 'big deal' for first-year residents

Resident life staffers are honoring first-year students who are doing positive things in their halls with an award called Warrior of the Week.

“The reason we do Warrior of the Week is to focus positively on what students in our halls are doing with their experience here at Waldorf,” said Katie Mullaly, the First Year Experience coordinator for Johnson-London Hall, a co-educational residence hall that serves 144 students. “As past and present statistics show, it’s difficult to get first-year students engaged in their first year of college life outside of a schedule of ‘school, work, sleep, eat.' So when we (that being myself and the RA staff at J and L) see acts of kindness that go beyond what we usually see in first-year students, we reward them by honoring them as Warrior of the Week.”

Winners of the award receive a parking space close to Johnson and London, and in the campus parking lot.

Here are this semester’s winners and what they did to earn recognition:

• Dec. 6: Dallas Ellsworth, "for lending a helping hand to neighbors and strangers during this past week's blizzard."
• Nov. 29: Sean Beaton, "for shoveling some snow for the residents at Johnson and London."
• Nov. 22: Jesse Von Behren, "for helping her RA get their floor pumped up for Thanksgiving."
• Nov. 15: Trevn Lee, “for setting an example of excellence in Johnson and London.”
• Nov. 8: Haley Rinaldi, “for helping students who needed it the most."
• Nov. 1: Ashley Sweet, "for helping clean up after herself, and even other people."
• Oct. 25: Jane Barratt, "for sticking up for herself in a rough situation."
• Oct. 11: Erik Lopez, "for being an amazingly studious student, we call him 'the bookworm.' "
• Oct. 4: Carlos Ruiz, "for being extremely studious and doing well on test."
• Sept. 27: Mike Swearingen, "for being extremely busy-bodied and balancing it all very well."
• Sept. 20: Jena Indrelie, "for working through life's tough situations."
• Sept. 13: Vanessa Anderson, "for being extremely caring and taking some men to the E.R."

Johnson-London Hall has been the first-year experience residence hall for the past three years, so almost all of its residents are first-year students, Mullaly said.

Mullaly meets with her resident assistant staff on Mondays to discuss who is deserving of the Warrior of the Week honor.

“On Tuesdays, I present (the winner) to the Waldorf community (via e-mail) to continually praise and appreciate the Warrior of the Week for what may seem like a small achievement to some, (that) becomes a big deal for our first-year residents."